For week ending Feb. 12, 2009

       Export for January-November now totaled 1,492,295 MT in copra terms, slightly lower by 1.4% when compared with 1,512,815 MT at the same time year-before. Corresponding earnings, however, rocketed by 47.5% to a record USD1.384 billion from USD0.939 billion last year. Of the total, coconut oil income at USD0.958 billion accounted for 69.2%. Breakdown of shipment by volume is as follow, in MT: coconut oil 769,207 (777,060), copra meal 413,444 (366,243), desiccated coconut 131,980 (121,520), oleochemicals 67,282 as copra (91,508); coco shell charcoal 19,834, (23,021), activated carbon 18,541 (27,770), glycerin 18,355 (14,902), fresh coconuts 1,372 (657), Others 24,440 (25,517).

       The United States took in one-third (33.4%) or 17,183 MT comprising of crude coconut oil 8,500 MT, cochin oil 8,650 MT, RBD oil 33 MT. Japan also took in substantial volume at 5,300 MT of cochin oil only to account for 10.3% of total trade. Top buyers of RBD oil were Iran at 335 MT and United Arab Emirates at 205 MT; other importers were Russia 43 MT, Bangladesh 37 MT, Pakistan 19 MT apart from the US and European buyers. Singapore purchased a mix of crude coconut oil at 100 MT and cochin oil at 51 MT.

       Export of copra meal in November almost exclusively went to Korea at 11,200 MT representing 92.5% of total sales. The remainder was distributed among Hongkong 339 MT, New Zealand 300 MT, Taiwan 256 MT, and Japan 11 MT.

       Desiccated coconut was delivered to 37 importing countries in November. Topping the list was the United States with 3,163 MT (23.7% market share), trailed by United Kingdom 2,222 MT (16.7%), and Netherlands 1,342 MT (10.1%). Substantial volumes also were purchased by Belgium 977 MT, Australia 903 MT, Canada 811 MT, Germany 580 MT, and Brazil 567 MT which collectively accounted for 28.7%. Six other buyers took in between 103 MT and 491 MT namely in descending order Japan, France, Russia, Taiwan, Korea, Turkey, South Africa and jointly shared 15.9%. The remaining less than 5% (4.9%) aggregating 649 MT were delivered to 22 other countries whose uptake were in the range 5-89 MT.

       There were 19 activated carbon destinations recorded in November, the top five being responsible for 59.7% as follows: Singapore 170 MT, Japan 159 MT, Germany 133 MT, USA 120 MT, Ghana 110 MT. The remaining 14 other countries with combined volume of 466 MT (40.3%) bought between 9 MT and 97 MT.

       The law also calls for oil companies to sell gasoline with 10-percent ethanol blend two years after implementation. Oil companies, however, have the option not to sell E10 in all pump stations but should replace 5 percent of total gasoline volume with ethanol. Marasigan said the board would inspect oil facilities to make sure that oil companies were complying with the law. The department earlier said it would register five facilities for biofuels this year to further promote the development of the industry. The department said the new facilities would ensure adequate local supply of biodiesel and bioethanol to comply with the mandated higher blend. Among the local biodiesel producers to date are Chemrez Technologies, Senbel Fine Chemicals, Mt. Holy Coco, and Pure Essence.

       December figures reveal that soya oil imports nosedived by 48% to 134,469 MT from December 2007. Brazil was the biggest loser with sales to China slashed by 81% to just 9,851 MT, while Argentina?s exports were down 40% at 123,600 MT. Palm oil appeared to be preferred option as uptake shot up 54% to 576,892 MT. Rapeseed oil import during the month was 36,290 MT, the vast majority of which came from Canada.

       Favorable prices and improved weather conditions were cited as major drivers for the gains achieved in soybean. However, also of importance was the country?s soybean industry?s change in direction a few years ago to focus strongly on the edible or culinary markets of Australia and Asia. The shift has taken awhile to develop varieties suited for the markets with good agronomic characteristics to come through the system, AOF Executive Director Rosemary Richards explained.

       Dela Vara was referring to a failed 2007 attempt by the famed tourist site to use soybeans to create biodiesel for the trains. That environmental effort was scrapped by Disneyland in 2008 amid storage problems. If successful, the new biodiesel effort that began last month would one day be used to fuel Disneyland?s Mark Twain paddlewheel steamboat and other on-site equipment.

       Caravan Ingredients Innovation Center Director Troy Boutte explained that the general properties of diglycerides fall between monoglycerides and triglycerides, in terms of solubility, boiling point, setting point and so on. For example, diglycerides mix better with water than triglycerides, which gives better emulsifying properties, but monoglycerides can mix too strongly with water, so that an excess of monoglycerides in a formulation can lead to a waxy or gummy mouthfeel. He claims that the Transcendim range provides the benefits of hydrogenated fats but in a healthier form. Depending on the application, the product can either be incorporated directly into foods by manufacturers without first being mixed into a shortening, or can be delivered to shortening plants in bulk molten form, as spray chilled powders, or as beads. It would then be mixed with the oils before final processing of the shortening.